“Damage to Property” v “Fallism” The Hypocrisy within the movement

In the wake of the riots in society fueled by the anger and disappointment from that have given up hope on the current system and are angry at the failure of our leaders to eradicate the presence of colonialism and its symbolism. We have witnessed a series of students uprisings in the past two years, these students, because of discontent have rejected the idea of a rainbow nation and the notion of a ‘born free’ claiming to be in chained and constantly having to explain their (black) arrested development, enslavement, subjugation, inferiority, this has led to riots and at most times the burning of buildings and other facilities.

It must however be said that this has brought a dichotomy in the “falling” of the society as we know it, it has somehow brought the differences in the definition of the methods within the movement, some saying the society as we know it must fall, land must be returned by any means necessary, some saying that we cannot burn buildings we will need later, but want this society to fall, this has brought some to a crossroads, What does “Fallism entail?” does it seek to dismantle the system of white supremacy and at the same time preserve the ‘Property’ (property here drawing its meaning from the constitution of the republic of south africa-lower case**) What is this property? How do we make this society die without its symbols? Why should these symbols fall in the first place? Why do is it that we “think” we will need them when we arrive in the new society?

As things stand in south africa at the moment the presence of white supremacy over shadows the black experience each and everyday, the majority of black people wake up everyday at 3:00am leaving their families to go and be undermine by white people because they have to put food on the table for their families, black families face the evil challenge of family feuds and divorces each and everyday because of the inhuman treatment the dirty, evil society they live in, black children grow up watching their fathers drunk and helpless their mothers trying so hard to be the pillar in the homes, black teenagers are subjected to inhuman behaviors, these are not contextualized so as to give a reason to why black people reach a ceiling so fast in life, for an example we are constantly told (StatsSa) that the majority of the youth in prisons are black youth but they will not say why that is the case, defending whiteness, defending destructive presence it has on poor, dispossessed, black people.

What does fallism seek to do with regards to the white presence black absence or better yet with white life and black death, Fallism entails that in order for the black people to have autonomy over their bodies they have to be “Free”, they have to be free of foreign domination, they have to take back their “life” as Father Sobukhwe puts it they have to call their souls theirs. This would mean then that they have to reject the identity given to them (that of blackness) and take up a new identity that of being human, that of life, that of freedom, that of being present, the consciousness of being or the state of mind of loving yourself.

But how is this to be achieved knowing very well that the forces that undermine the black people are omnipresent, black people are educated by an anti-black white system, black people are constantly and on a continuing basis indoctrinated by a white media, black people work for white people, black people live with whiteness. How then do we say we want this society (as we know it) to fall, what is to fall? This is the bifurcation point, some pointing at name change, decolonization of curricular and knowledge etc (through peaceful marches , picketing, sit-ins, stay aways, and more social non-compliance methods) and some saying “BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY”. it becomes clear then that there is agreement on the diagnosis of the sickness but the difference is the cure and the arrival thereto.

The notion of “by any means necessary” entails within itself that should the enemy resist to retreat then force will be the only option available for the masses. Fanon teaches us that “As soon as the native begins to pull on his moorings, and to cause anxiety to the settler, he is handed over to well-meaning souls who in cultural congresses point out to him the specificity and wealth of Western values. But every time Western values are mentioned they produce in the native a sort of stiffening or muscular lockjaw. During the period of decolonization, the natives’s reason is appealed to. He is offered definite values, he is told frequently that decolonization need not mean regression, and that he must put his trust in qualities which are welltried, solid, and highly esteemed. But it so happens that when the native hears a speech about Western culture he pulls out his knife–or at least he makes sure it is within reach. The violence with which the supremacy of white values is affirmed and the aggressiveness which has permeated the victory of these values over the ways of life and of thought of the native mean that, in revenge, the native laughs in mockery when Western values are mentioned in front of him. In the colonial context the settler only ends his work of breaking in the native when the latter admits loudly and intelligibly the supremacy of the white man’s values. In the period of decolonization, the colonized masses mock at these very values, insult them, and vomit them up.”

The above simply put means that when the process of decolonization comes, the colonized(here being black) looks upon the values that are and have been imposed on him contemptuously and with the intent of doing away with those values (e.g Societal corporatism), these values entails in the core that the colonized should be willing to solve his issues with the colonist at the table, and he must strive to work with the colonist and that he must be willing to share everything equally with the colonist, which then implies that the colonist and the colonized are at the same point or the same level, which is not the case. The black people and the white people are not at the same level, in fact the white man is on top of the black man, if therefore the development of the black man to a human being is undermined and repressed by the white man this brings forth the analysis that the presence of the white man ( together with all his agents, his law, his “property” that is built on black land, his thoughts, his value system, his knowledge system) needs to be dealt with before the black man can develop to a human being.

In conclusion it is of paramount importance that we note the notion of “we will need them later”. I must say that what i read out of this cautious approach to the revolution is the dependency on institutions built on black pain, blood and tears, to me this is but one of the notions that undermine the declaration of “black man, you are on your own” from black consciousness, why love and depend on the same institutions that have dehumanized us as black people instead of focusing on building black institutions, why feel this sense of affection and attachment to the same institutions that have passed laws that have stripped us of our autonomy, passed laws that have taken us from being human to the level of an animal, but we have the audacity to look the same institutions with awe what does that say about us in the revolution against white supremacy, these institutions are a reflection of black pain and suffering, if we really are revolutionaries then we would be geared at building new black institutions that counter or are not at all engaged in any competition with white supremacy knowing that, morally, the development of black people cannot be compared to the development or “developedness” of white people. Therefore black people who engage in the struggle for Fallism must be engaged as well in the re-development of African knowledge systems, institutions, legal system, economic systems, and properties, so that when we BURN ,which inevitably will happen, these white institutions we will have our own institutions ready to take over and secure the new order of the day.

2 thoughts on ““Damage to Property” v “Fallism” The Hypocrisy within the movement”

understand this, black people have suffered so much under these institutions and they have morally preserved them not because they are fools and don’t see that these institutions are the ones exerting pressure and oppression in their daily lives, Any people who have been abused and continue to be abused, at some point will stand up and put morality aside in order to liberate themselves and their future: the children.